Community Radio

By Don de Silva, 16 December 1996

Tambuli, the carabao horn, traditionally used in a village in the
Philippines to convene a meeting, is now the call name of a series of
community radio stations. Tambuli has become the voice of
disadvantaged communities.

Financed by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA)
through the UNESCO International Programme for Development
Co-operation, the Tambuli community media project was launched in
1987.

In the Philippines, 90 per cent of the population own radio sets.
Radio is the most potent medium of communication. The project aimed at
setting up 12 media community centres. Each community was to organise
its own FM radio station, using low-powered (20 watts) transmitters
and simple production equipment. At the end of the fist pilot phase,
six centres are operating.

The first centre was created with the support of the College of Mass
Communication at the University of the Philippines. A small
transmitter and studio were set up at Basco in the islands of the
Batanes, 670 kilometres north of Manila —Radio Ivatan was on the
air.

Other centres have been established in the following locations: Laurel
in the coastal province of the Batangas; the farm and fishing towns of
Ibajay and Banga in the province of Aklan; Olutanga island in
Zamboanga del Sur; and Partido in Camarines Sur.

The present media system is largely run PPPP: profit, propaganda,
power and priviledge. We need new public media structures owned and
controlled by the people, says Louie Tabing, Tambuli project
manager.

According to Tabing: Tambuli has triggered some changes. Set up
only in March 1995, the Tambuli station in Camarines Sur managed to
stop illegal gambling after much discussions on the air. The whole
community was against gambling because people, including the poor,
were 50,000 to 100,000 pesos a day for the benefit of the gambling
lords.

For the Tambuli communities, the sing-along machine, karaoke, has
become the heart of the radio stations operations. In December 1994,
the community of Banga in Aklan raised local funds for the purchase of
a karaoke system for their radio station. For the villagers, karaoke
time was the time for their baranggayan sa himpapawid (village on the
air); live discussion of local problems and the search for solutions,
a dialogue with local officials, and interviews carried out between
musical performances.

The strategy was such a hit that it was adopted by other stations and
the baranggayan has become the most popular programme. During a visit
to Ibajay in Aklan, the members of a project review mission witnessed
a live baranggayan in the local language. Some 60 people gathered for
the event held under the coconut trees along the beach. Most performed
alternating roles as hosts, emcees, technicians, co-ordinators,
interviewers and interviewees. A highlight was a 20-minute segment
called Balitaktakan, or a debate with the mayor and councillors.
Spliced into rounds of songs and poetry readings were discussions on
fund-raising for the construction of a bridge and lack of school
teachers in the village.

The Tambuli radio community project has demystified radio technology
and succeeded in drawing village communities to participate in
broadcasting. Were it not for Tambuli, the people of Banga still
will be lying back passively, says Porfirio Bullo, manager of the
local media centre.